Chapter Ten.
When you opened your eyes this morning you expected to be greeted with a moon shattering headache. But to your surprise, it's not there. Considering you only slept three hours, you will take it for the miracle that it is.
You eat breakfast and have some tea while you go through your typical morning routine. Mentally making a note to ignore the shit show you started for yourself last night.
'I'll just deal with those repercussions as they come I guess.' You think to yourself as you swing your backpack over your shoulder and lock the front door behind you.
The first few hours are quiet at work. Repairs are a pretty chill job. It's a shame you aren't given more time to do them. Neptune is with you in the repair room this morning. So the previous night's antics were being kindly swept under the rug. You're sure Neptune had his own fair share of bad decisions. But he was looking worse for wear. His electric blue hair had no gel in it, and it was falling down like a wet mop.
In an attempt to break the silence you try to make conversation without involving what happened with Weiss, in case he was oblivious.
"You feeling alright down there?" Choosing not to look up from your repair, you continue turning screws in the Scrollbook in front of you.
"Girl, I think I'm actually dead and this is some kind of trans existential experience."
"Or you might just be still drunk." The groan you hear in response makes you think that he might just be needing more alcohol.
"I wish I were still drunk. Maybe then I wouldn't feel like I've been dropped out the side of an airship." He closes his eyes and leans back in his chair.
"Well, you look a little bit better off than that."
He perks up a little bit, taking it as a compliment. "Oh thanks, boo."
Shaking your head you return back to your repair and try to put seeing Weiss as far out of your mind as possible.
—
A few hours pass and you grab your ScrollTab to go start taking some appointments. You cautiously open the door that separates the front of the store from the rest of Scroll, but you don't see a certain silver haired girl.
'Thank Gods.' You think to yourself as you begin your first appointment of the day. Pushing your worries to the back of your mind, you power through. That is, until you see Sun. He looks.. what's the word? Oh yeah, dreadful. He looks terrible. He's pale, there's bags under his eyes and he might be shaking you can't tell for sure.
"Hey, you're alive." He looks around like he's lost. "Where's Weiss? Wasn't she supposed to work today?"
That makes you nervous. Was she sick? Or maybe she was just so mortified by what you did and said last night that she quit her job and moved back to Atlas to live with her family. That's a logical explanation for her not being here, right? No Blake, don't be stupid.
"I don't know. I haven't talked to her since… well you know, yesterday." You pretend to be busy on your ScrollTab to avoid the conversation.
"Oh yeah. That is crazy." He rubs the back of his neck, like he does when he doesn't know what to say.
"Yup."
"By the way, while I unfortunately remember this, I had to go to the apartment before I came to work this morning. And I may have thrown up on the living room rug. I tried to clean it up, but the smell just made me throw up again. But I'll deal with that when I get home tonight, sorry."
"Honestly, I could care less about rug vomit. I got plenty of things to worry about. I can clean it up for you when I get home. I don't want to leave it sitting on the rug while I wait for you to come home. That's kinda gross."
"Yeah… I didn't think about that part. I owe you."
"Meh, I'll add it to your tab."
"Fair enough." He saunters off towards his next customer.
—
The clock finally hits five and you cannot wait to leave. Quickly, you clock out and grab your bag. Digging for your keys as you walk to the car, and throwing on your sunglasses. You always rush to see if you can beat the worst of the traffic when you're off at five. It's either haul ass and get home in 20 minutes, or take your time and get home an hour or more later. Today is a haul ass kinda day. That and you have some vomit to scrub out the carpet whenever you get there.
You throw your backpack into the seat next to you and find a playlist to listen to on the ride home. Time to get the hell outta here. As you get to the traffic light at the shopping mall exit, you receive a scroll message. You know that sound. It's Weiss' message tone.
"Help me Gods, please dear Gods help me." You know the pleading is far too late. You peek over at the scroll sitting in the cupholder. You can see the message notification but you can't read it from where it sits. Your heart is pounding like a sledge hammer in your chest. "It's not like the fate of the entire world is in that text or anything Blake, calm down. It's just a text." Cautiously, you reach out for the scroll, only for the light to turn green, so you withdraw. Safety first.
Hands back on the steering wheel, you continue on your journey home. After the first few songs finish playing on the radio, you try to psych yourself back up.
"Okay. You got this. What's the worst that could happen? She may just never want to speak to or see you ever again." The message tone goes off again, another message. "Shit." You lightly slam your fists against the steering wheel repeatedly. Too antsy to make a decision. "They aren't going to read themselves Blake, might as well just get it over with." Greeting your teeth, you reach over for the second time. As your hand brushes the edges of the scroll case it starts ringing. "Holy shit." Hitting the button on the edge of the steering wheel you answer it.
"Hey Neptune, what's up?" Feeling relief wash over you because you can go another few minutes without checking those messages you let out a ridiculously deep breath.
"Sorry to bother you. I thought you were still at work, but then I realized that you had already left so I figured I'd just call you instead."
"Everything okay at work?"
"Oh yeah, yeah. This actually isn't about work at all. I was just calling to invite you to the birthday thing that me, Nora and Ren are having in a few weeks. We are gonna hit up that new Vacuoan taco bar place that's down by where you and Sun live."
"Sounds cool. Just let me know when you guys decide on a day and what time and I'll be there."
"Really? Awesome. I'll let you know once it's planned out."
"Can't go wrong with tacos. Ever."
"Amen sister. Well I'll talk to you later, or I'll prolly just see you at work tomorrow or something."
"Cool. I'll talk to you later." Disconnecting the call, you glance back over at the scroll, still resting in the cupholder.
"Nope. Not yet. Can't seem too desperate." The rest of the way home you take the opportunity to sing as loud as possible. Drowning out your worry with your assuredly lovely singing voice.
—
When you got into the apartment you set your scroll down on the dining room table and tried to forget it was there. Messages still unread. But there is only so much you could pretend to do around the house until you find yourself sitting at the table, staring down the scroll like it owes you money.
"Why is this so difficult? It's just a text. Check it." You make no move towards the scroll. "Come on Blake, what are you afraid of? Oh nothing, only everything. And Weiss." A shaky hand stretches out and you quickly snatch the scroll from the surface of the table. "Just do it. Now or never."
Swiping up to unlock the screen, you touch the messages icon and find Weiss' conversation thread and select it. Drawing in the deepest breath you've ever tried to breathe, you open your eyes and look down. Reading the messages in her voice, inside your head.
Please tell me I'm not the only one with a hangover that could've caused the crack in the moon. Literally slept all day. Just woke up.
You release that deep breath you had been holding the whole time you read the message. Did Weiss not remember what happened last night because she was too drunk? Or was she just choosing to avoid the topic for the sake of saying you both from the awkwardness? You have no idea.
Taking a second to get back into a calmer mindset, you tap the reply box to send her a message back.
Hey, sorry. Was working all day. I feel fine. Sun though, not so much.
Really, that couldn't be further from the truth. You figure it's probably best to play it off like nothing happened. You don't want to ruin one of the few good friendships that you have. That's what you and Weiss are right? Friends. Yes. Friends. The two of you continue messaging back and forth. Nothing different from your usual banter. Maybe you dodged a bullet this time. Maybe her not remembering is a good thing, you think. But at the same time, it kind of feels like something isn't where it should be.
Shrugging the weird feeling off, you grab the carpet cleaner and some towels. Time to go clean Sun's vomit off the living room floor.